by Quentin Long ©2010 Quentin Long

   What, exactly, is The Meaning Of Life? Answer: Whatever you want it to be.
   Do you think that sounds like a cop-out? If so, you’re wrong. It is, in fact, the most accurate answer I can give to that question. The problem is, ‘meaning’ isn’t an objectively measurable quality, like weight or density or temperature; rather, ‘meaning’ is something we humans attach to stuff, and whatever relationship (if any!) that ‘meaning’ may have to the physical universe is purely arbitrary. If you ask a bunch of people to tell you the meaning of some particular object—a soccer ball, say—you’re likely to get at least as many different answers as there are people giving you said answer. Now ask that same bunch of people to measure the weight of that object, and they’ll all give you pretty much the same answer.
   In short, there just isn’t any One True Meaning of anything, only a (potentially infinite) Set of Possible Meanings. This is analogous to how there isn’t any One True Language; the English word ‘dog’ refers to the same thing as the French word ‘chien’, and there’s no Eternal, Absolutely Correct justification for preferring one word over the other. Instead, there’s just arbitrary, practical justifications, such as “am I talking to someone who only speaks French?”
   When you get right down to it, ‘meaning’ is one of those things which falls into the category of ‘it’s all in your head’—or, to coin a term which carries decidedly less emotional baggage, ‘meaning’ is a part of ‘internal Reality’. Lots of other things are also part of internal Reality, including preferences in food (i.e., is chocolate ice cream better than strawberry?), moral judgements (i.e., when is it permissible to injure other people?), and religious faith (i.e., are we waiting for the Messiah’s reunion tour, or are we waiting for His debut appearance?).
   Now, I can already hear the outraged howls from a certain segment of Anthro’s readership: “What do you mean, ‘religious faith’ is part of ‘internal Reality’? I know for certain that God really does exist, and so-called ‘external Reality’ wouldn’t even be here without Him! How dare you dismiss my sincerely-held Faith as just being ‘all in my head’, you arrogant so-and-so!?” I dare quite easily, thanks. Yes, if you’re a Christian (as roughly ⁴/₅ of all United States citizens are), your faith tells you that Jesus Christ is the son of God, that He’s the Messiah, and that His Second Coming is due to happen any day now. But if you happen to be a Muslim, your faith tells you that Jesus Christ is neither the Son of God nor the Messiah; rather, your faith tells you that Christ was ‘just’ a particularly gifted prophet. And if you’re a Jew, your faith tells you that you’re still waiting for the Messiah to show up.
   At least one of these three belief systems must be wrong—and yet, adherents of all three belief systems can and do assert that the one they happen to believe in, really and truly is the One True Religion. So yeah: Whether you like it or not, whether you want to acknowledge it or not, ‘religious faith’ simply is part of internal Reality, every bit as much as ‘meaning’ is.
   The two paragraphs just previous are more than a diversionary aside; they’re also an indirect reference to some of the problems that can arise when people aren’t clear on the distinction between internal Reality and external Reality. And there very definitely is such a distinction: Internal Reality has no rules other than those you happen to accept at the moment, and those rules, like everything else about internal Reality, are subject to change with your opinions. But the rules of external Reality are always in operation, nor do they—nor can they—cease to apply merely because you prefer a different set of rules (or even none at all)! If any of you readers disagree with that, feel free to decide not to be bound by the ‘law’ of gravity—and then go jump off a bridge. Let me know how that experiment works out for you, okay?
   To repeat, the problem is failing to distinguish between internal Reality and external Reality. It’s one thing if your internal Reality includes daydreams about being married to [insert name of famous performer]; it’s something else again if you base your behavior on the presumption that said imaginary ‘marriage’ is a genuine part of external Reality… perhaps by, say, moving into that performer’s house. Because what could be more logical and natural than moving into your spouse’s home, right? And then there’s all the ‘fun’ which can occur when somebody decides to maim and/or kill another person because of some bizarre facet of their internal Reality…
   Here’s the bottom line: If your internal Reality includes facets which are neither dangerous to other people nor compatible with external Reality? In that case, it’s harmless, so ‘live and let live’ applies. But if your internal Reality includes facets which both clash with external Reality and cause you to torment, kill, or otherwise abuse other people? Now, that is anything but harmless… and